The concentration of power in Silicon Valley happened partly because we let it. We accepted a few platforms as inevitable. We built our communities there because that’s where everyone was. It wasn’t because their technology is better. It was a choice—made again and again by the people on those platforms, by investors, and by policymakers.
A different choice is possible, but it requires that those of us building alternatives actually believe what we say about cooperation. It means assuming good faith from people building different projects. It means investing in infrastructure that doesn’t benefit us alone.
We, the builders of the open social web, are the only ones who can make that choice.
It starts with deciding that our mission matters more than winning alone.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/06/why-the-social-web-must-work-together/